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“If this is how I die I don’t think I’ll be all that upset.”
Katara laughed as she dumped a bag of laundry onto the bed next to Aang’s prone form. His face was pressed into the soft pillows and his wrap bunched at his waist. She understood his apathy though – it had been weeks since they had more than a few hours of sleep before they had to move on to the next crisis or meeting and even longer since they had slept in a bed.
“I don’t think everyone else would be very pleased though,” Katara said, perching on the edge of the bed and smoothing a hand over his prickly scalp. “What am I to tell the Fire Lord when the Mighty Avatar Aang smothers himself in his goose feather pillow?”
“That I hadn’t slept since the last new moon and that I tolerated him only because of his wonderful Pai Sho skills,” Aang grumbled as he rolled into her touch, smiling as her thumb traced his cheekbone. He peered at her, his stare at half-mast through his long eyelashes. “You think I’m ‘mighty’, huh?”
“I think you’re a lot of things,” Katara answered flippantly as she stood and moved around the room, kicking her shoes to lie next to his boots, shimmying out of her dress and pulling the pins from her hair. Aang sighed as he watched her hair cascade down her back and cover the expanse of dark skin from his gaze. She peered at him over her shoulder, her cheeks tinged with pink as she pulled her nightgown from a bag. “Right now, I think you’re much too tired to be looking at me like that.”
“You’re probably right.” He groaned as he pushed himself up from the bed, his muscles aching as he untangled the fabric of his wrap and dumped it in the laundry bag. The bag was embarrassingly heavy as he heaved it to the floor – another casualty of their insane travel schedule. He pushed his loosened trousers down his lean hips and left them in a heap on the floor where they landed.
“I was going to sort that out…” Katara said as she turned to face him, the short blue silk falling into place and a pout pushing her lip out. Aang sighed in reply, stepping away from his trousers and managing to flick them onto the top of the overstuffed bag with a flick of his foot. “Aang, I have a lot to do tomorrow – I really need to get a head start on it. You go to bed and I’ll join you soon.”
“I’ve got a better idea,” Aang answered, taking a large step over the laundry bag and pulling her into her arms. He pressed a kissed to the frown line between her eyebrows. “How about tomorrow we have a bath when we get up, share breakfast on the balcony and I cancel my meeting with whatever stuffy official it is and help you with the laundry and other stuff we’ve let build up for the last few weeks. After that we can have dinner with Zuko and whoever else is here and then share a bottle of wine together and see where the night takes us?” He bobbed his eyebrows at her and Katara couldn’t stop the giggle that burst from her lips.
“Okay,” Katara murmured with a kiss. “Do you even know which stuffy official you’re about to cancel on?”
“No – to be honest I don’t really care, I’d rather spend the day with you,” Aang replied, a yawn muffled against the back of hand as he pulled Katara towards the bed. “I take it you do though?”
“Mmm.”
“And?”
“It’s Zuko and he wanted to talk to you about his wedding,” Katara answered. Aang shrugged before launching himself onto the bed and pulling Katara after him, wrapping her in his arms and sighing.
“Even more of a reason to cancel,” Aang muttered into her hair and Katara laughed. “I don’t think I can listen to him talk about fire lily arrangements anymore.”